. >>> u.s. stock futures are up this morning. markets ended sharply higher yesterday on all optimism that a fiscal cliff deal could come by the end of the year. christine romans is here right now minding our business this morning. she's looking at some of the fallout in the gun industry in the wake of these connecticut school shootings. >> interesting story breaking this morning. cerberus capital management, a private equity firm, making direct investments in companies, investors do, you have teachers, pension funds invest in private equity. listen carefully. cerberus owns freedom group. which owns bushmaster, the company that made the assault rifle that police say was used to kill all of those children and six teachers. this morning, cerberus capital management is saying it will hire someone to try to sell its freedom group company, to sell bushmaster, to sell the company that made that rifle. this is what they say basically. it is apparent that the sandy hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the national debate on